Malta Again, and Again and Again

Just four squads into the 2010 Malta Open and three of them have been won by Maltese, each walking off with the €100 squad prize.

Neil Dent hands ovedr the squad prize to Mark Spiteri

Only 13 Maltese have entered the fray this year and now Mark Spiteri, 45, has topped a squad after Neil Sulllivan and Sue Abela’s earlier efforts. Just Marcus Berndt from Sweden has foiled a Maltese clean sweep.

Squad 4 saw Spiteri, an I.T. specialist with a cell phone company, win his way through his second six-game block. an opening 1205 was topped this time with 1363 for a 12-game total of 2568.

“I’m very pleased to be the third Maltese to win out of the four squads,” joked Spiteri. ” I’ve been bowling for ten or eleven years, but have only taken it seriously over the past six or seven years. I now bowl in the first division of the Malta league.”

The tussle for the top of this squad was oncve again between Maltese players, spiteri being chased by the ubiquitous Kenneth Arpa who represents Malta in several internatonal events. But Spieri came though with 113 pins to spare and Costas Kyriakou of Cyprus placed third.
With most of the field, a total of 56, now having completed the twelve qualifying games, it is local hero Spiteri at the top of the leader board, dislodging Marcus Berndt of Sweeden into second place by 53 pins. However, keeping the local honors, there are four Maltese in the top five in the current standings.

The leading lady after 12 games is Cheris Denham from England, now in eighth place. The high game still stands at 290 from Marcus Berndt.

The leading 30 players after 12 qualifying games will advance to Sunday’s final rounds.